It’s remarkable to think that five years have passed since the world first went into lockdown. One constant remains: the growing demand for the essential services and resources nonprofits provide to help communities thrive. The call to support and sustain these organizations is louder than ever. This year’s 11 Trends report explores many of these issues — attempting to look beyond the pendulum swing and into a future where innovations in philanthropy and community-building may yet achieve the transformations we all hope to see.

While lead was officially discovered in Flint’s drinking water in September 2015, Flint’s children and families had been drinking
lead-poisoned water since April 2014. Although the damage was done, a solid nutrition foundation could still be created that could help mitigate the effects of future lead exposure and give Flint’s children the best chance for a healthy future.

Using federal APRA funding, in 2022 the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) established the Spark Grants program to help local communities create, renovate and redevelop public recreation opportunities for residents and visitors—especially those communities whose economies and health were hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was intentionally designed to dramatically reduce barriers to application and incorporate significant outreach to applicants and capacity-building within the grant itself—a new way of grantmaking for the department. Due to these changes, the program has attracted more applicants than any other grant program in DNR's history. It also reflects the efforts to center equity in its procedures and policies, plus develops a new coalition of partners; Spark Grants represents the first time the DNR has contracted with a nonprofit organization to administer a portion of its grantmaking - a partnership based upon the hope that grassroots community engagement will reach those areas long neglected by the state, urban and rural alike.

Founded in 2003 as a collaboration between the State of Michigan and philanthropic organizations, the Governor’s Office of Foundation Liaison (OFL) — the first of its kind in the nation — serves as an executive branch-level nonpartisan connector between Michigan’s public and philanthropic sectors.

This guide is designed to support Youth Advisory Council (YAC) advisors in leading a youth philanthropy council. It can also be a resource for anyone engaged in the youth philanthropy atmosphere as a tool for sparking ideas and additional learning.

This guide from the Kresge Foundation offers various resources for staff, board members, current and potential grantees, and other community partners to expand our knowledge of the disability justice movement. 

Council of Michigan Foundations 2022 Financial Audit

This guide provides an overview of the regulations and practical considerations of different types of charitable gaming available to nonprofit organizations. 

This resource is intended to explore frequently asked questions involved in managing disaster funds, specifically issues of concern to private foundations, community foundations, corporate foundation/giving programs and other public charities that manage grantmaking.

"A Case Study of Michigan During Crisis" documents the experience of the Office of Foundation Liaison in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic through a compilation of a dozen interviews with state officials and foundation leaders conducted from December 2020 to February 2021.